‘I think we have work to do’

After 10 years on the job, a new decade is dawning for Prince George-Peace River MP Bob Zimmer.

As expected, the 52-year-old from Fort St. John was re-elected handily for a fourth term in Monday’s federal election.

With 207 of 225 polls reporting, Zimmer had 19,210 votes (59.2 per cent), comfortably ahead of NDP candidate Cory ‘Grizz’ Longley, with 4,913 votes (15.1 per cent).

People Party of Canada candidate Ryan Dyck, 3,134 votes (9.7 per cent) moved into third place ahead of Liberal Amir Alavi, with 3,055 (9.4 per cent); followed by Catharine Kendall, Green, with 1,236 votes (3.8 per cent); David Jeffers, Maverick, with 868 votes (2.7 per cent); and Phil Hawkin, Canada’s Fourth Front, with 38 votes (0.1 per cent).

“It’s just a really good show of support for us and we appreciate everybody’s votes today, you just never know how elections turn out and I’m just so thankful for the support we have going into the fourth term,” said Zimmer. “I think we have work to do. We’ve seen some of the other groups who have drawn Conservative votes and we have work to do just to gain those voters’ trusts and obviously across Canada we have work to do to even form a minority government. Being 10 years on the job, I’ve learned how to make a difference...”

“You just have to push and work hard and I’ve seen it work. We were hoping to make that difference as government, but we will continue on working for the people of Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies,” Zimmer added.

Justin Trudeau fell short of his goal of the 170 seats needed to gain a majority but Canadians, who struggled with the idea of an election during the fourth wave of the pandemic, have re-elected Trudeau’s Liberals for a third consecutive time. As they did in 2019, the Liberals will form a minority government, with the Conservatives as the official opposition in Parliament.

The Conservatives gained 34.07 per cent of the popular vote, compared to the Liberals 31.98 per cent, but it wasn’t enough to defeat them.

“I think once again it’s that whole popularity – we got Canadians’ support but it didn’t come out on the seat count – and we saw that last time,” said Zimmer. “We have some work to do in some areas we haven’t won this time. It’s a very tired Liberal government and we need to be seen as the government in waiting and the people will trust us to give us their vote.

He said his priority and that of his party will be to kickstart the national economy that’s suffered greatly during a pandemic that’s dragged on since March 2020. Longley, in his first election, was elated to finish second to Zimmer in the Prince GeorgePeace River-Northern Rockies vote.

“After 50 years of Conservatives in this riding and me running against six other candidates, I’m the orange, long-haired freaky person and I came in second,” said Longley, who plans to return to his job as a pipefitter for the City of Dawson Creek.

“If you look at the numbers from tonight, I am taking nothing but victory, that’s exactly what this is for the NDP.”